brought to tears....of JOY

Ben completed his 3rd day of 3 yr old preschool today and it was all I could do not to sob with joy in the hallway when I picked him up.  He wakes up extra early every day asking to "go to schoolee," and when he sees me at pick-up he squeals, "had a fun time mommy!"
He loves Ms. Bailey the para, and talks about Luke and Eli a lot.  
The wonderful, beautiful, amazing thing though is today he completed ten minutes of focused yoga with his classmates to end the day.  He followed directions, stood on the rug, and then laid down to end the day peacefully.  These are things I knew he could do, but he was very distracted at his last school, and I'm quickly discovering the difference a great teacher and a daily routine can make.  How Ms. Corina keeps 19 little students in one place and all doing the same thing seemed like a Christmas miracle....but it keeps happening, everyday!!
I was a proud mama at his quick progress, but more than anything, joyful that the tough choice we made as parents has made him SO HAPPY.  You can bet my nighttime thoughts will be filled with hopes this is a trend that continues!

We had a quick, post-school, B&N date to use some b-day gift-cards and he quickly found and only had interest in books we already had at home. :) He sat near a nice lady who was reading books on the floor and "read" her Goodnight Moon while I swooned.

swimming's a bust :(

Sadly the swimming lessons I'd hoped to start Monday will not work out for our very own, Michael Phelps Jr.  Although I did indeed sign up for the preschool 3-5 yr old class with no prerequisites and with a list of focus areas Ben already can do, the 5:1 student to teacher ratio and no parent help (I was the only one who showed up in my swimsuit, :) will not work for us.  In Ben's group there are only 5 year olds with him and they all can stand with their heads well above the water.  Ben does his best to bob, but after the third eye roll from his teacher when he pushed off the wall and "swam" to her, I pulled him out and we went home.  I now understand why there were 4 year olds in our previous parent tot class but I CANNOT take another month of "tic toc, tic toc, I'm a little cuckoo clock," nursery rhyme pool time!  There just isn't a good group option until Ben is older.  Even if he was taller and could swim all on his own, (the other kids in his group couldn't either,) the six part instructions aren't cognitively viable for any 3 or 4 year olds.
So, I've asked them to credit my account and have requested private lessons for him.  We will see what they come up with and try to keep going on our own in the meantime.  Maybe it's a sign I should find some gymnastics.  ;)

school days

Wow! I got so used to having my Monkey with me all the time with nearly six solid weeks without school, including our ten day road trip, that 2.5 hours alone today was tough!
Of course I was worried about how he was fairing at his new school, but the last twenty minutes had me toe-tapping and flipping through a catalog without really looking at it.
Ben awoke extra early talking about school and I was shocked at how well it all went overall.  He hadn't even seen his classroom before today but walked right in, sat on a little sofa with a book and was quite content.  We were surprised to see Luke from his last school there as we'd heard he was still at the JCC, but Ben was thrilled to see him.  
Ben will spend this year in a three-year-old classroom with two teachers and 19 classmates.  He will attend every weekday morning for two and half hours and still gets to join me at home for lunch. :)  He will get speech therapy within his classroom once a week and a little bit of occupational therapy for staying on task and increasing his attention span.  He barely qualified for the occupational therapy, and although it's not a worry or priority for me and I think lots of three-year-old boys would likely qualify, we'll take all the help and attention we can get.
I'll update you all in a week or so as the next couple will be telling but so far so good......for one of us at least!

you serious about me carrying this heavy pack??

the closest to a smile and thus, my favorite pic of the morning

a last minute addition for the car ride :)

a little trepidation as we waited for his room to open

a well child

That's right, we no longer have a well-baby or well-toddler in our house, but a well-child. Ben's 3 year check-up went great.  He hovers around the 80% mark for both height and weight and everything else checked out fine.  The Dr's jaw nearly hit the floor when I told him Ben still hadn't had juice more than once or twice and he agreed we should keep it up.  He also agreed it was ok to switch to skim milk though not necessary, but with Ben's love of all things dairy, I think it will be a good choice for our family.  The Dr. also mentioned that if we were ever unhappy with Ben's speech therapy, that they were there to help us get services through our insurance if we wanted.  Our insurance did actually pay for his services over the last year, but the school system/state covers it over the next year.
It was a quick, painless visit with no vaccinations at 3, so we headed out for a sayonara Summer breakfast and school supply shopping.

sayonara Summer breakfast at Sam's

Aside from some crazy things at his last speech evaluation that I've known very few 3 year old's who could do, I'm very happy with Ben's progress at this point.  He's still behind in the speech department in terms of adding adverbs, correct endings and articles but making huge progress everyday.  We're also still working on clear articulation so people besides his doting Mama can understand more of what he's saying. Last week he followed a big kid (11 or 12) around the playground repeating what he said.  It showed some new confidence for him in the speech department and both the big kid and I really encouraged him. He will continue to get speech therapy each week at school this year.
At 3, Ben knows his colors, shapes, numbers and letters in a variety of environments.  He can almost count to twenty and frequently tells me I'm 45. :)  He is starting to say when he sees letters that start or end certain words (ie.- "n" ends Ben,)  but we're just starting to play with some sight word apps and flash cards. 
He "reads" lots of his favorites books along with us and has many of them so memorized, he can recite them without the books present. This has been an invaluable tool when he needs calming or distracting as I can just start reciting a book and his attention is captured. Right now his favorite bedtime books are Nugget Goes to School and Let's Dance Little Pookie with an occasional request for Jingle Pup or Goodnight Moon.  There are almost as many books next to our bed as in Ben's room as this is his favorite place to read.
Swimming is still the favorite activity for Ben and in addition to jumping in on his own and swimming up from the bottom, he can push off from the wall underwater and swim a few strokes to us.  We start mama/kiddo lessons twice a week again on Monday. 
I would definitely call him fully potty trained although he needs a little help getting his britches up over his booty when he's finished.  He was dry overnight 6 of 7 nights last week, but we'll still keep the pull-ups on at night for a while.  We also accomplished a big milestone this week in the potty department, eliminating the iPad.  Although we'd always mixed up book and iPad use for longer potty visits, Ben was requesting "iPad potty" about 18 million times a day and often when he did not need to potty. To which I would respond, "Do you really really to potty?" and he would turn his head, show his biggest smile and say, "iPad?" In less than a week, I now know that when he asks to potty he really does have to go as he knows there is no more "iPad potty."
We've removed the movies from the iPad a couple times and added them back for trips, but we try to keep it mostly educational and with the end of iPad potty, I've allowed a third 15 minute session in each day.  Ben still says "Mama, cook dinner!" all day long as that was his 2nd half of the day iPad time. :)
Ben has mostly given up his nap and sleeps 10-13 hours at night.  On super busy or active days he will still take one and is obliges with a forced quiet time when he is especially cranky. 

proof from just this week that those naps aren't gone entirely

I'd say very little about the 2's was terrible so I'm cautiously optimistic the trend will continue. I do know lots of moms of boys that say 3 was really tough so I will try to be prepared if that happens.
For now we'll try to keep things "super duper" and I'll keep hoping to hear, "that a GREAT idea mama."
It's interesting to think about how new school years will coincide with birthdays for the next twenty years or so but what a great time to reflect, refresh and restart.

here we go again................................

new tools

Ben got new tools from both The Witherspoons and the Voigts for his birthday and as we were loading them into his work bench, I remembered it "grows," with him.  Upon discovery of his very own tape measure, he asked me to "put it on like Dada."  With no pants on, I couldn't resist snapping some pics as he helped my expand his tool bench.

bye-bye baby bye-bye (Ben is 3)

Yesterday Ben turned the big 0-3!! I don't think it's really sunk in that he's technically no longer baby or toddler, but preschooler and big-kid through and through.  Ben was quite confused as we'd told him for weeks about his party on Saturday and every time I told him it was his birthday he said, "not Tuesday, birthday on Saturday." :)
We had planned to head to Grand Lodge in Breckenridge for the night to celebrate so Ryan had the day off! :) Breck didn't work out but we made a great day out of being home.
We started the day at the SK CEE (Stephen Knight Center for Early Education,) Ben's new school, and met his new teachers Ms. Corrina and Ms. Bailey.  As Ryan said, Ms. Corrina seems like a perfect blend of warmth and firm-ness needed to deal with headstrong three year olds. 

(I'll write more about school in another post.)

Next stop was the zoo for Dada's first visit of the year.  It was great for Ben and I too as we did several things we hadn't at our many visits this year.  We ventured through tropical discovery, (the aquariums,) and saw both the seal and sea lion show and the elephant swimming and fact demonstration.  It has been HOT in the mile high city and this day was no exception.  Cool margaritas and shade on the Pinche Taco patio was the perfect antidote to the heat.  

feeling a polar bear fur

 

"what's a guy gotta do to get some zzzz's around here?"

lots of this series of pics show Ben doing everything to avoid my kissies :)

this was the first time I saw an elephant swim

All grown up at lunch and using Dada's hat to beat the heat.

Ben was asleep within minutes of getting in the car after lunch so we swung through Lowe's to get his gift in secret.  We had planned on taking him in to get it but this worked great!  We got home and Ryan snuck inside to his room while Ben snoozed away.  When he woke and we went in, I was able to distract him with outdoor and basement play while Ryan finished his surprise. 

click here for the big reveal

Dinner was Ben's request of "hot burgers" and we ended the day with fresh Palisade peaches on vanilla ice cream.  Without the help of neighbor Joe to open gifts, getting Ben to open them was like pulling teeth.  Many people tell me this will change quickly but begging my son to open special, thoughtful gifts feels so wrong.  Maybe Christmas will be better with everyone opening and taking turns.

 

Opening awesome blocks and a memory game from the TS's. After this gift he opened the rest.........

 

.......under the table.

The Monster at the End of this Book was one of my favorites as a kid and I was delighted to share it with Ben.

Overall the day was delightful and Ben repeated, "Dada here. Dada not at work." regularly throughout the day.  Next up is getting him to change his response to "how old are you?" When we tell him he's three he still says, "nooooooo. two!" :)
We have a well-child visit Friday and I'll share some more about his 3-year-old development then.

Despicable Me, Ben is nearly 3!!

On Saturday we hosted a backyard screening of the original Despicable Me in honor of Ben's third birthday.  As I brainstormed about what we might do this year I just kept coming back to the fact that if he could choose anything to do, it would be to sit and watch this movie. The idea grew into watching this movie in the backyard surrounded by friends and family after eating some of his favorites things: pizza, mac and cheese and black (chocolate) cupcakes.

Ryan jumped at the chance to take on the cupcake making after recently hearing of a new "killer" recipe.  Everyone present was shocked at what the cupcakes would become and how good they tasted.  

 

For a video of Ben "eeeeeeeeing" the candles out, click here.

While I had wanted to hire a backyard movie company, Ryan put the kibo$h on that idea and we borrowed a projector and Ryan whipped up a screen with a king sized sheet, velcro, some cable wires and some 2X4's.  I'm so thankful we went this route as we can do this again....frequently! Some freshly washed moving blankets my brilliant husband had demanded we save made the perfect ground-cover and guests were invited to bring pillows, loveys and blankets. 

This party was the smallest yet with less than half of last years 60+ guest list but the short two hour pre-movie time frame made it just as hectic.  I treasure these times as I know one of these years Ben will request a generic fun-complex party for all his friends where all I do is write the check. :)
Despite pleas from relaxing adults to start another movie at 945 when the first ended, we called it a night and said goodbye to the last guest around 11pm.  Part of Ryan's task earlier in the day had been to wear Ben out so he'd nap, (you can see how Ryan accomplished that at Western Welcome Week here,) and success in that department meant he was happy and smiling until the last guest departed.
My mama heart was overflowing with happiness as Ryan and I sat discussing the evening.  I know Ben had THE BEST time surrounded by kids and all his favorite things.  Mission Accomplished!

Cousin Ian spy's??

Cole and Grace

cutie Grayson

my first time purchasing "pre-made" decor may be the last

backyard fun kept the kiddos busy through dinner and the sundae bar

Tante

Tante's co-worker has this minion at his desk and let us borrow it.

FINALLY, black cupcakes!!

sweet Hailey

the boys were ready for the movie but this was only a final test run :(

Ben and Ian were so excited!!

getting into position like the "big boys"

Neighbor Joe was the present helper. Ben never would have opened them all without his help. :) We asked if we could borrow him for Christmas.

this car is AWESOME!

Finally time for the movie..........

 

The deck was far enough away it made for the perfect spot for the non-watching and gabbing adults.

And yes, I'll admit it, I'm starting to brainstorm a little bit for next year. :)